周二，共和党人拒绝推动对国防部长皮特·海格塞斯的弹劾投票。跛脚鸭多数党将其否决，因为唐纳德·特朗普和他的政党似乎不会从中期选举的灾难性失利中吸取任何教训。
On Tuesday, Republicans refused to advance a vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The lame-duck majority shut it down because Donald Trump and his party seemingly will not learn any lessons from their catastrophic midterm losses.
一周前，共和党人遭到美国人民一代人一遇的斥责。那么，他们对这场具有时代意义的惨败作何回应？放纵自己最糟糕的本能。
One week ago, Republicans faced a once-in-a-generation rebuke from the American people. And what has been their response to this era-defining drubbing? Indulge their worst instincts.
首先，特朗普把斯蒂芬·米勒提拔为白宫幕僚长。米勒很可能是美国最招人憎恨的人之一。他集中体现了人们憎恨MAGA运动的一切：随意的残忍、煽动蛊惑，以及彻头彻尾的令人不快。
First, Trump elevated Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff. Miller is quite possibly one of the most loathed men in America. He is the personification of everything that people hate about the MAGA movement: the casual cruelty, the demagoguery, the downright unpleasantness.
当然，本届政府一些最不受欢迎的政策决定正是出自米勒之手，无论是迎合极度沉迷网络的白人至上主义者的怪异言论，还是美国城市中的大规模驱逐和移民突袭行动。
Of course, Miller is responsible for some of the least popular policy decisions of this administration, whether it’s the weird messaging that appeals to extremely online white nationalists or the mass deportations and the immigration raids in American cities.
他获得提拔这一事实，足以说明特朗普是如何应对中期选举失利的。
The fact that he’s getting promoted should tell you a lot about how Trump is handling his midterm losses.
与此同时，在国会，共和党人刚刚选择众议员吉姆·乔丹（共和党-俄亥俄州）担任下一任众议院少数党领袖。这位极端主义议员是最典型的MAGA人物，他升任这一最高职位表明，特朗普的政党不会尝试调整路线。乔丹击败了本就非常保守的路易斯安那州人史蒂夫·斯卡利斯，夺得这一职位。
Meanwhile in Congress, Republicans just chose Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be the next House minority leader. The extremist congressman is as MAGA as it gets, and his elevation to the top job signals that there will be no attempt at course correction from Trump’s party. Jordan ousted the already very conservative Steve Scalise of Louisiana for the job.
显而易见，众议院共和党人执意要坚持既定路线，推行那种刚刚让他们在国会两院全军覆没的失败政治。
It is clear that House Republicans are intent on staying the course and pursuing the kind of losing politics that just got them wiped out in both chambers of Congress.
事实上，最典型的MAGA人物、众议员劳伦·博伯特（共和党-科罗拉多州）目前在连任竞选中落后，她却说她的政党之所以全军覆没，是因为“过于温和”。从上周的结果来看，我认为选民并不认同这种看法。
In fact, the very MAGA Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who is currently behind in her re-election bid, said her party got wiped out because its “too moderate.”Based on last week’s results, I don’t think voters agree with that sentiment.
然而，特朗普所在政党最令人费解的决定，或许是选择力挺赫格塞思。这位前福克斯新闻主持人无疑是历来领导五角大楼的人中最不合格的一位。他被迫否认了从严重酗酒到性侵等各种指控。他甚至不得不应对自己母亲一封后来被撤回的邮件，信中称他是“一个虐待女性的人”。除此之外，赫格塞思——除特朗普本人之外，比任何人都更是——伊朗战争的公众面孔，可以说正是共和党刚刚遭遇历史性选举惨败的最大原因。
Possibly the most baffling decision of Trump’s party, though, has been its choice to stand by Hegseth. The former Fox News host is, far and away, the least qualified person to ever lead the Pentagon. He has been forced to deny allegations of everything from a serious drinking problem to sexual assault. He even had to reckon with a since-recanted email from his own mother, who called him “an abuser of women.”On top of all that, Hegseth is — more than anyone besides Trump himself — the public face of the Iran war, arguably the biggest reason that Republicans just suffered a historic electoral defeat.
这场战争几乎可以肯定是我有生以来最不受欢迎的外交政策灾难。即便是伊拉克战争，也没有在这么早的阶段就遭到选民如此强烈的憎恨。但在那一次，面对一场不受欢迎的战争所引发的惨痛中期选举失利，乔治·W·布什总统尚有常识，与他那极不受欢迎的国防部长切割关系。2006年中期选举后的第二天，布什就解雇了唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德。
The war is almost certainly the least popular foreign policy disaster of my lifetime. Even the Iraq War was not this hated by voters this early on. But in that case, when faced with a stinging midterm loss in response to an unpopular war, President George W. Bush had the common sense to cut ties with his deeply unpopular defense secretary. The day after the 2006 midterms, Bush fired Donald Rumsfeld.
就连那些人也明白，在一场选举血洗之后，解雇那位负责一场不受欢迎战争的、不受欢迎的国防部长，是世界上最轻而易举的政治上篮得分。
Even those guys understood that firing the unpopular secretary of defense in charge of an unpopular war after an electoral bloodbath was the easiest political layup in the world.
这届白宫本可以这样做：解雇赫格塞思，向那些刚刚以最明确无误的方式告诉它，他们不喜欢它所作所为的美国人作出让步。但特朗普拒绝这样做。
This White House could do something like that: fire Hegseth and make a concession to the Americans who just told it, in the clearest possible terms, that they do not like what it is doing. But Trump has refused to do that.
与此同时，赫格塞思本人在周二上午的新闻发布会上，正如你所预料的那样好斗而桀骜。他又发表了一篇“由Grok撰写”的硬汉演讲，专门为早上8点收看福克斯新闻的那唯一一位观众量身定制。
Meanwhile, Hegseth himself was exactly as truculent and defiant as you would expect during a press briefing on Tuesday morning. He delivered yet another one of his “written by Grok” tough-guy speeches, tailored for the audience of one watching Fox News at 8 a.m.
部长攻击了即将离任的肯塔基州共和党众议员托马斯·马西，称其为“心怀不满且已败选的国会议员”，并表示弹劾将“把目标对准美国战士的后背，发出信号表明国会将在实时中破坏他们的任务”。他还说：“这不是爱国主义。这是蓄意破坏。”但这并非“蓄意破坏”。国会正在履行其应尽的审查职责，完全有权质疑一位内阁成员是否称职。
The secretary attacked outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., whom he called a “disgruntled and defeated congressman,” and said the impeachment would put a “target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time.”He added, “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage.”But this is not “sabotage.”Congress is performing its due diligence, and it has every right to question the fitness of a Cabinet member.
目前，特朗普和共和党甚至没有向美国选民做出最容易的让步。但那些选民已经发出了声音。我有种预感，到了明年1月民主党掌权时，情况将会改变。
For now, Trump and the Republican Party have not made even the easiest concessions to the American voters. But those voters have spoken. And something tells me, come January, when Democrats take the reins, things are going to change.